Quantifying fiber diameter is important for characterizing electrospun polymer scaffolds. Many researchers use manual measurement methods, which can be time-consuming and variable. Semi-automated tools exist, but there is room for improvement. The current work used Matlab to develop an image analysis program to quickly and consistently measure fiber diameter in scanning electron micrographs. The new Matlab method, termed “SIMPoly” (Semiautomated Image Measurements of Polymers) was validated by using synthetic images with known fiber size and was found to be accurate. The Matlab method was also applied by three different researchers to scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of electrospun poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA). Results were compared with the semi-automated DiameterJ method and a manual ImageJ measurement approach, and it was found that the Matlab-based SIMPoly method provided measurements in the expected range and with the least variability between researchers. In conclusion, this work provides and describes SIMPoly, a Matlab-based image analysis method that can simply and accurately measure polymer fiber diameters in SEM images with minimal variation between users.

中文翻译：

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SIMPoly：一种基于 Matlab 的图像分析工具，用于测量电纺聚合物支架纤维直径

量化纤维直径对于表征电纺聚合物支架很重要。许多研究人员使用手动测量方法，这种方法既耗时又可变。存在半自动化工具，但仍有改进的余地。目前的工作使用 Matlab 开发了一个图像分析程序，以快速、一致地测量扫描电子显微照片中的纤维直径。新的 Matlab 方法称为“SIMPoly”（聚合物的半自动图像测量），通过使用具有已知纤维尺寸的合成图像进行了验证，并被证明是准确的。三位不同的研究人员也将 Matlab 方法应用于电纺聚（乳酸-乙醇酸共聚物）（PLGA）的扫描电子显微镜（SEM）图像。结果与半自动 DiameterJ 方法和手动 ImageJ 测量方法进行比较，并且发现基于 Matlab 的 SIMPoly 方法提供了预期范围内的测量值，并且研究人员之间的差异最小。总之，这项工作提供并描述了 SIMPoly，这是一种基于 Matlab 的图像分析方法，可以简单而准确地测量 SEM 图像中的聚合物纤维直径，并且用户之间的差异最小。